ormolu

English

Alternative forms

• or-molu

Etymology

From French or moulu (literally “ground gold”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔː(ɹ)məluː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

ormolu (countable and uncountable, plural ormolus)

1. Golden or gilded brass or bronze used for decorative purposes.
   • 2023 September 23, Lauren Indvik, “God is in the details”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

     It is an old-fashioned space of pink-and-green trellis carpet and French ormolu, half-concealed by heavy brocade curtains.

Adjective

ormolu (not comparable)

1. Made from golden or gilded brass or bronze.
   • 1888, Henry James, The Reverberator, Macmillan and Co.:

     At one of the ormolu tables, near a lamp with a pink shade, Gaston insisted on making at least a partial statement.

   • 1997 May 17, Marianne Macdonald, “Who is Paul Theroux?”, in Independent (UK)‎:

     "He [R. L. Stevenson] took his mother?" I repeated, off guard, and he replied, turning a quick back flip of satisfaction, "Yeah, and his ormolu clock, and all his furniture from Edinburgh."

Verb

ormolu (third-person singular simple present ormolus, present participle ormoluing, simple past and past participle ormolued)

1. To decorate with gilded ormolu articles.
   • 1840, E.A.Poe, The Philosophy of Furniture:

     But I have seen apartments in the tenure of Americans—men of exceedingly moderate means yet rara aves of good taste—which, in negative merit at least, might vie with any of the or-molued cabinets of our friends across the water.